PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- After years of polarization and failed efforts, could the country finally be poised for a sweeping immigration overhaul?
U.S. Sen. Sheldon White-house, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee that approved the immigration bill now headed to the Senate floor, says this "is certainly the best chance" for overhauling the country's broken immigration system.
The Senate could take up the bill as early as this week when the session resumes, Whitehouse said during an interview last week. He based that on a conversation he had with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
Broadly speaking, the bill would establish a 13-year earned path to citizenship for most of the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States; strengthen border security; raise the cap on visas for highly skilled foreign workers and create a new visa program targeting foreign entrepreneurs. It includes three amendments from Whitehouse.